Refrigeration

With its retro good looks and smooth lines, the SmarSofa from Gorenje wouldn’t look out of place on an Austin Powers movie set. On display at IFA 2010, the SmarSofa is not just a convertible lounge. It includes a fully integrated fridge which contains remote-controlled, rotating cooling platters. At the touch of a button the platters containing ready-to-eat dishes can be lifted and lowered to the desired height. How’s that for groovy?  Read More

Many readers would be familiar with the electrical blackouts that occur in the summer months resulting from the extra load placed on electricity supplies by air conditioners. A new “smart” metal being developed by researchers at the University of Maryland (UM) could help cool homes and refrigerate food 175 percent more efficiently than current technology, not only giving strained electricity networks a bit of relief, but also drastically cutting summer electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions.  Read More

In the future, your refrigerator might keep your food cold by using a magnet. Not only would it use less power and run quieter than your current fridge, but it also wouldn’t contain any hydrofluorocarbons, gases which can add tremendously to the greenhouse effect if not properly disposed of. It all comes down to something called the magnetocaloric effect, wherein a changing magnetic field within a material causes it to get colder. It definitely holds promise, although scientists first have to figure out just how the thing works.  Read More

The sun is already being used to power air-conditioning systems so it seems a natural progression to apply it to refrigerate perishable foodstuffs - a huge consumer of fossil fuel-based energy. Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany, are taking this task to heart with two solar refrigeration trials in the Mediterranean region – one at a Tunisian winery and the other at a dairy in Morocco.  Read More

Is this the world’s cheapest refrigerator? Launched by Indian conglomerate Godrej and Boyce, ChotuKool's $69 price tag is not the only reason it can be called super economical. The portable, top-opening unit weighs only 7.8kg, uses high-end insulation to stay cool for hours without power and consumes half the energy used by regular refrigerators. This is a product that has crossed several technological barriers and is designed to cross several social barriers as well.  Read More

A fridge that positively thrives in direct sunlight might seem a bit of a strange idea, but if you find yourself in a baking hot country where keeping your medical supplies cool and fresh could mean the difference between life and death, or you just want to sell some chilled refreshments to passers-by, then you need a portable, stand-alone chill solution. Industrial Insulation Systems (IIS) has developed a solar powered fridge/freezer which can be tailored to meet the needs of these off-the-grid scenarios.  Read More

Raser Technologies has begun delivering 10 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable electricity to Anaheim, California, from its first low-temperature, binary geothermal plant, the Hatch Geothermal Power Plant in Beaver County, Utah. Traditionally, the lead time on a geothermal plant is three to five years, but the USD$33-million Raser plant has been powered up just five months after ground-breaking. To help meet such rapid construction schedules, the plant uses off-the-shelf modular components, taken from the air conditioning industry, which are essentially running in reverse.  Read More